The Problem With the PSP UMD Movie

Ever since the PlayStation Portable (PSP) was launched, people have been interested in much more than the games that could be played on it. There was also a lot of demand for the PSP UMD movies that it could play. Think about it – there are probably more movies to be found in this format than there are other PSP stuff like the actual games. And the spin-off has been software programs that can convert movies into a format that's playable on these systems, such as PSP Movie Creator.

However, it wasn't long before the sales of PSP UMD movies started to decline dramatically. In fact, manufacturers started cutting or ceasing production, and dropping their prices considerably. So what happened to cause this decline? When you look at it, it's actually pretty obvious. It's just like the circumstances the CD and DVD industry are facing, where people download music and movies rather than buying a physical product. There doesn't seem to be any point to paying money for something that you can get for free.

Unfortunately for the makers of PSP UMD movies, this is a situation they probably didn't foresee. The same thing occurred in the music industry when people started downloading songs, for which there were plenty of free sources. There are now so many sites where you can get pirated copies of PSP UMD movies that it has affected the production of the hard product.

The industry tried to rebound by producing hard to find movies that were perhaps only available on outdated media. A few producers even tried to set up sites where they charge a modest fee for streaming these movies. But even at a reduced price people still preferred to download their movies for free.

There are countless websites where you can get a movie converted into a format that can be played on your PSP, and then download it. In addition to this online access to free movies, you can also buy programs that will convert your files to UMD format. This isn't strictly legal, but that doesn't stop most people. And once they've converted the movie, they upload it to share with others. When you have these kinds of options, there doesn't seem to be any reason to buy something that you can get for free.

So how do you solve the problem? Perhaps there needs to be an organization that monitors these illegal downloads. This could be something that the big manufacturers would like to be involved in. As well, there needs to be stronger enforcement of the laws against pirated copyright material. However, it's much easier to talk about this than to do anything about it. If the situation concerns you, you can do your part by purchasing your PSP UMD movies instead of "borrowing" them.